


Looking for Group

by AdmantCrow



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Adventure, Alternate Universe - Non-Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Characters will be added as they appear - Freeform, F/F, F/M, Fantasy, Fluff, Friendship, Gaming, Gaming addiction, Loneliness, M/M, MMO, Magic is a gays only event, Not-Evil Tsumugi, Ouma and his quest to be Saihara's friend in stupid ways, PVP, Romance, Sometimes a chatroom fic, Sometimes scripted, Summer, Summer Vacation, Wholesome, chatroom, online games, video games - Freeform, wingman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-04-23 00:31:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14320524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdmantCrow/pseuds/AdmantCrow
Summary: After much convincing, Shuichi finally accepts Tsumugi and Himiko's offer of playing a recently released MMO, Hell's Abandon. Before long, the young detective is swept up by the game that, one by one, hooks in his many friends as well.





	1. Hell's Abandon

Shuichi had never been a huge fan of video games. He’d played them, on occasion, as a child. And as he grew up, he still played them from time to time with friends when such a time would arise. But ever since coming to Hope’s Peak, he hadn’t really touched any sort of games, sans sometimes watching one of his friends play whilst hanging out in their room. That was one way he was different - a couple of his friends, like Tsumugi and Himiko, _religiously_ played video games, and were frequently asking Shuichi and their other friends to play a game with them. In Tsumugi’s case, she’d _constantly_ asked Shuichi if he wanted to play an online MMO with him, but he’d always turned her down, though vaguely promising to take her up on the offer eventually, when he wasn’t bogged down by school work and going out with Kaede, Kaito or Maki. So, Tsumugi had declared that when those conditions were met, she would find a game for them to play. In all honesty, Shuichi was so busy during the school year, he’d barely have time to spend on an MMO, so he figured he’d never really give Tsumugi the opportunity to get him into a MMO.

In the end, it was his own carelessness that got him into ‘trouble’. His homework was done, which was a small miracle considering how often Kokichi had tried to meddle with his studying, but it was finally done. A week into their summer break, during a scorching summer, Shuichi logged on to the group chat for his classroom, not being able to conceal a chuckle at the usernames for each of them, all of which were quickly edited to joke names by different people in the class.

**‘Harmony’ Squad**

**6:30pm** ****  
****

**Sleuthy boi** **  
** Done!

 **Nerd of the stars** ****  
What dat?  
  
**Sleuthy boi**

Summer homework. Wanted to get all that junk out of the way so I can relax.  
  
**Nerd of the stars**

Oh yeet. I ain’t started that stuff yet, i got plenty of time before that junk is due

**Beep-boop**

Kaito, I have to suggest that you could be using your precious time more wisely.  
  
**Nerd of the stars** ****  
Nah Kibo, i got allll summer break for this stuff. Like i’m watching all the Star Wars movies right now anyway  
  
**[censored]**

Oh shit, asshole, why didn’t you fucking tell me? I made a fucking genius popcorn machine last month, I’ll bring some and we can stuff our faces while we marathon

 **Nerd of the stars** **  
** Bring it Miu, but take your time,, i’m on attack of the clones right now

 **[censored]** ****  
I gotta fucking tend to myself so message me when Revenge of the Sith starts  
  
**Stabby stabby slice and dice** **  
** Kaito

**Cosplay is a lifestyle**

Kaito you made a mistake outing yourself about this marathon  
  
**Stabby stabby slice and dice** **  
** Kaito you told me you’d have your work done for tomorrow

 **Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
Kaito run whilst she’s typing  
  
**Nerd of the stars**

I said it be done for our trip to osaka so i got plenty of time to marathon till next week

 **Magic is a gays only event** **  
** Kaito you fooollll

**Homosexuality is the powerhouse of the cell**

Kaito the fact that your girlfriend’s friends know what day your trip is on and you don’t is proof enough that degenerate males brains can’t retain even the most basic form of information.  
  
**Stabby stabby slice and dice** **  
** Kaito. Its tomorrow

 **Sleuthy boi** ****  
It was nice knowing you Kaito  
****

**Beep boop** ****  
I will imprint your memory within me, forever  
  
****_Nerd of the stars has left the chatroom_

 

 **Cosplay is a lifestyle** **  
** Go easy on him Maki, you know he doesn’t mean it

 **Stabby stabby slice and dice** **  
** I know I just want him to not sit on his dumb ass all the time and get his damn work done. He’s got his stupid dream and it isn’t going to be any closer if he doesn’t pass classes

 **Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
Awww, Maki, you’re so cute when you talk about him  
  
**Bugs!!!**

Maki love Kaito like Gonta love bugs! :^)  
  
**Stabby stabby slice and dice** ****  
Shut up Tsumugi

 **Sleuthy boi** **  
** I love how she tells Tsumugi to shut up but not Gonta

  
**Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
Because everyone loves Gonta. Anyway, Shuichi you said you had finished all your homework before, right???  
  
**Sleuthy boi** ****  
Yeah. What about it?  
  
**Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
And you got no plans for the next few days, right?  
  
**Sleuthy boi** ****  
I guess. Kaito and Maki are gonna be in Osaka for a couple of days and Kaede has a concert, so I guess I’ve got nothing planned?

 **Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
I’m gonna send you a link to a newish MMO, you wanna play? You did mention to me you’d be game if you weren’t busy  
  
Shuichi frowned as Tsumugi’s most recent message came through. His automatic reaction was to refuse, since he really didn’t feel he’d really get into an MMO. He was looking forward to reading a book Kaede had lent him, some stupid mystery novel she’d bought him as a joke. But he had to admit, he _had_ promised Tsumugi that he’d game with her when he was free, and he didn’t want to be some lonesome jerk who only hung out with his core friends.  
  
Maybe it wouldn’t be as bad as he thought? He was always overthinking things to death, maybe this was something he could just play for a few hours, thank Tsumugi for playing, and then move on. Sighing, he continued to type.  
  
****

**Sleuthy boi** ****  
Sure thing, then, Tsumugi. Send me the link.  
  
**Magic is a gays only event** ****  
What kind of mmo is it?  
  
**Cosplay is a lifestyle** ****  
It’s a new popular MMO, but it’s your run of the mill fantasy setting  
  
**Magic is a gays only event** **  
** Oooooh, send me the link Tsumugi i’m gonna get an edge up on the wizard class

**Beep boop**

How would you be able to gain such an advantage over existing players without prior experience with the application?

**Magic is a gays only event**

I know how magic works so I won’t need to play the tutorials

**Homosexuality is the powerhouse of the cell**

God Kibo its so obvious, why’d you even need to ask that? My Himiko will destroy the characters of all the degenerate males who spend all their times playing sexy women on the internet

**[censored]**

Fuckin nerds

A few minutes later, Shuichi got a link from another, new chat that popped up on his screen, which only contained Tsumugi, Himiko and himself, containing the link to the MMO Tsumugi had been talking about.  
  
“Hell’s Abandon…” Shuichi murmured, reading the title of the MMO as he browsed the website. He wasn’t super familiar with MMOs overall, but he knew enough to recognise all the normal features of a fantasy MMO. Tons of classes, dramatically generic story setting, a billion different systems to memorise, a variety of ways to interact with other players… the list just went on. Resigning himself to what was probably going to be the next few hours, Shuichi clicked the download button, letting the game begin to load on his computer.  
“Thank god for Hope’s Peak internet.” Shuichi chuckled, finding himself smile at how outrageously fast the internet was.  
  
Another notification popped up on the new chatroom.  
  
**Tsumugi Shirogane** ****  
Hey, Shuichi! Figured it be easier if we just talked through voice chat, rather then just constantly typing here and in the game.  
  
Shuichi hesitated again as the prompt for Voice Chat appeared on his screen. Tsumugi and Himiko were known for being… outgoing when it came to venting about things they enjoyed, and the subject being video games featuring magic would probably set that into overdrive…  
  
“It wouldn’t even surprise me if Tsumugi’s already planning a cosplay from this game.” Shuichi mumbled to himself, resigning himself to his fate. He _had_ promised.  
  
**Shuichi Saihara** ****  
Yeah sure, give me two seconds.  
  
Putting on some headphones with a built-in mic, he clicked the voice chat, not realising he hadn’t turned his audio down from earlier, since he’d been working to music.  
He _really_ wished he’d turned it down earlier.  
  
“SHUICHI!” The shrill yell of the two girls on the other ends of the voice chat, combined with leaving his sound up so loud made the Ultimate Detective yelp loudly, frantically clicking to lower the volume to a less ear-crippling volume. “You okay?” Tsumugi asked him, Shuichi grumbling as his ears stung a little bit.  
  
“Yeah, yeah, just forgot to turn down the volume from before.” Shuichi mumbled as he stopped rubbing his ear.  
  
“You should be feeling better already, Shuichi.” Himiko called out. “I chanted a spell silently to soothe your ears. Shuichi chuckled a little bit, which just made Himiko grumble. “What!?”

“Nothing, Himiko. It did help.” Himiko’s magic obsession could always be a little much, but it never failed to make Shuichi smile one way or another.  
  
“Anyway~ On to the main event!” Tsumugi finally announced, clicking coming from her end of the chat. “I read about this MMO coming out a few months ago, but I was so lost in my current work that I haven’t had the chance to check it out ‘till now. Himiko and I have already got the download done.”  
  
“Yeah, I looked through it a bunch, seems fun enough.” Shuichi murmured, only really half telling the truth. It looked generic as heck, that’s what the truth was. “I’m almost downloaded, either way.”  
  
“Can you be a mage??” Himiko called out again, her excitement practically bleeding through the microphone.  
  
“I honestly don’t know if there is a fantasy MMO that doesn’t have a mage…” Tsumugi wondered. “Anyway, of course there is, Himiko. I’ll leave you that role, then.”  
  
“Wait, role?” Shuichi asked, confused. “What do you mean?”  
  
“Well, I figured that if we’re gonna play together for a while, we’d all pick a different role. One of us is the physical damage dealer, one of us is the magic damage dealer, and the other can be the healer! So we can spread out the duties of the party.” How long term was Tsumugi planning for this to go? Shuichi frowned, clicking back to the class page. So, as the download neared completion, the three teenagers discussed what classes they were going to pick, Tsumugi weighing up the pros and cons of each class and how it would work out with the three working together. As hesitant as Shuichi was to get sucked into the girl’s hobby, he had to admit, just talking about this kind of stuff was a lot more fun then he figured.

* * *

 

“Uhhhhhh…” Tsumugi groaned through the mic. The three had chosen their race/classes (but hadn’t disclosed them to the others yet), but had reached the greatest barrier to anyone creating a new character.  
  
“What is it?” Himiko asked, clicking frantically.  
  
“I’ve got no idea on a name…” She replied, clicking her teeth anxiously. “Always the hardest part.”  
  
“Oh, that was easy for me!” Himiko declared, Shuichi envisioning the smug look on her face that he always saw when she boasted about magic.  
  
“Really?” Shuichi asked, he himself struggling with a name. “What’d you name yourself?”  
  
“Boggadooble” Himiko said flatly, being met with a fit of giggling from Tsumugi and restrained chuckling from Shuichi. “Hey, it’s not funny!! It’s original!” Himiko huffed in response.  
  
“I-I-I don’t think I n-need to worry about a cool name anymore…” Tsumugi gaped, trying to catch her breath. “I-I think I’ve got one now.” A noise came from her mic that sounded like she was rolling her face on the keyboards, making Shuichi restrain another laugh. “The monsters of Hell’s Abandon shall tremble at the might of… Jamasper!” Now it was Himiko’s turn to giggle with laughter at Tsumugi’s stupid name, Shuichi not being able to restrain his laugh either.  
  
“Okay, Shuichi, you gotta have a dumb name too!” Himiko demanded. “Or I’ll get Chihiro to hack you and change it for you!” Shuichi agreed, knowing that Chihiro probably _could_ do that, anyway. But the question was _what_ stupid name he was going to pick for his character. He could try and think of one like Himiko, or mash the keyboard like Tsumugi, but another idea came to his mind.

“You’ll see it when we get in.” Shuichi told the others, grimacing to himself with the inherent stupidity of the name, as the three of them entered in race and class details.   
  
“So… you’re going ‘Berserker’, right Tsumugi?” The cosplayer replied to the affirmative.   
  
“And Himiko said she was gonna be a ‘Warlock’.” Himiko made a noise of agreement, giggling to herself. Shuichi frowned, looking over the healing classes. He could go a straight healer, like he originally planned. But hearing, before, how Himiko and Tsumugi were planning to develop their characters to be proficient in certain ways, doing nothing but healing was gonna make Shuichi’s character a little too… passive.  
  
“What were you going to pick again, Shuichi?” Tsumugi asked.  
  
“Some powerful healing magic to back us up, right?” Himiko added.  
  
“Maybe not pure healing, but something like that.” Well, if he was going to play this game for tonight, Shuichi justified to himself, he was going to play something with a little more of an active role then just standing around hitting the one key to heal. “Okay, got it all down.” Shuichi confirmed.  
  
“Okay!” Tsumugi said, her enthusiasm almost infectious. “We’ll all click create at the same time, so we appear together!” Himiko and Shuichi agreed. Tsumugi counted down from three, and at the count of 1, they all clicked create and spawned in the world of Hell’s Abandon.

* * *

 

“Goddamn it Shuichi.” Tsumugi grumbled, still coming down from her laughter at his name, staring at his character as she did so. Tsumugi’s own character was a green, three foot tall goblin, carrying an axe bigger them himself and dressed in little more than war paint and a loin cloth. The war paint was divided into white on one side, black on the other. Being a goblin, it was kind of gross and _just_ like Tsumugi to pick such a weird designed character. The name [Jamasper] hung above the character.  
  
“We could’ve been a monster squad!” Himiko also complained, her character towering over them. More than six feet tall, Himiko, for some reason, had chosen a gigantic skeleton, who was _apparently_ a girl despite lacking any kind of defining features besides being a skeleton. Dressed in purple robes and carrying a magic orb, Himiko was over the moon for her character, [Boggadooble].

“Maybe we could’ve co-ordinated better if we’d said what races we were picking!” Shuichi, not knowing that the two girls were going with such ghastly character designs, had gone with what was essentially the polar opposite. Dressed in ornate tribal robes, Shuichi’s elven Druid had long blond hair and almost electrically blue eyes. Much to the hysterical laughter of his friends, Shuichi had settled on the name [Shuelfi] as his character’s name.  
  
“But of all the names…” Tsumugi giggled, her character leading them towards the starter town. “You had to mix your real name and race? That’s just lazy.”  
  
“Says the person who literally rolled their hands over the keyboard, ‘Jamasper’.” Tsumugi in response huffed loudly and led them into the town.  
  
“So, I read on the game’s wiki is that each class has their own little quest chain to complete to get past the tutorial starter town.” Shuichi frowned - the main reason he agreed to this whole thing would be because he’d be gaming with his friends. Sighing loudly, he spoke up.  
  
“How long do these quest chains normally take?” Tsumugi didn’t answer straight away, but he could hear her frantic typing to get the answer.  
  
“Says here it’s about 45 minutes at the most, assuming you listen to the story.”  
  
“Why read when you can blow up guys with magic!” Himiko laughed to herself, Shuichi begrudgingly accepting 45 minutes of adventuring on his own.    
_Now_ was the time Shuichi had to buckle down and focus. He made sure to read every text box, every prompt, every tutorial that told him how to play this damn game. The three teenagers were relatively silent as they progressed through their own tutorials, though Himiko very quickly became a lot more excitable as she seemed to reach combat _much_ faster then the other two.  
  
And it was here the big moment struck the Ultimate Detective. As a kid, he’d never really played video games for the story - heck, most of them didn’t even _have_ a story. He had played stuff like Goldeneye or Mario Kart. As he’d grown older, he became a bit more of a bookworm and gotten enthralled by the stories of his favourite book. And despite what he heard from his friends, he’d never really thought of video games as having the potential for good storytelling. But _damn._  
_  
_ “This game has really good writing!” 

The concepts for the quest chain was fairly basic - defending a defenceless elven hamlet from the encroaching undead horde (something which made Shuichi flat out laugh considering Himiko’s skeleton race), but the execution of the story really struck a chord with him. Judging by the hushed gasps from Tsumugi’s mic, she was going through a similar situation with her Goblin storyline. Of course, none of this came from Himiko, who seemed to be doing little but blasting enemies out of the sky with her Warlock. Shuichi also found himself getting the combat - he remembered years ago watching one his school friends play World of Warcraft, and the control scheme was fairly similar - but there was something about it that just _clicked_ . Attacks with his staff felt like that had real weight, the noise of his spells in his ears felt as realistic as magic could - everything about the game seemed to satiate some desire he’d never realised he wanted from a game, and then Shuichi finally realised his doom. He was going to get addicted to Hell’s Abandon, wasn’t he?  
  
The crazy part was, he didn’t even care that he knew this - he just clicked on towards the end of the storyline.

 

* * *

 

“What took you guys so long?!” Himiko complained as the three characters congregated at the exit to the starter town, the three of them hitting the Level 5 mark.  
  
“I was y’know… actually reading the plot?” Shuichi replied, trying to reorganise his skills so his rotation flowed better.  
  
“How was yours??” Tsumugi half-shouted. “I never thought a storyline about _goblins_ could be so uplifting!!” Shuichi smiled as Tsumugi ranted about the storyline she’d gone through.  
  
“The basis for mine was pretty basic, but the way it played out was really engaging! And that was just the intro?” Shucihi raved in response. “How, Himiko, how was your intro story?” Himiko’s skeleton character slowly turned to face them ingame, as Himiko’s monotone voice rang out.  
  
“I skipped all the dialogue. I got to blow things up with evil magic, so that’s all I needed~” Shuichi and Tsumugi literally roared in response to her admittance, which very quickly turned into laughter as the three friends left the starting zone and _really_ started the game of Hell’s Abandon. Shuichi was amazed at how quickly he picked up the game - from what he had felt when he first looked at the controls, he’d guessed it would be unwieldy. But in no time at all, his fingers flowed over his keyboard as he fought the enemy monsters and healed his friends. Himiko jokingly became half-infuriated with her friends as Shuichi and Tsumugi constantly stopped to read the flavour text of _every_ quest the came upon, which quickly became their focus in the game, whilst Himiko literally just wanted to fight monsters and get loot.  
  
The gameplay was fun and engaging, the story of the quests were superb, but it wasn’t that which quickly hooked Shuichi in.  
  
Bantering with Himiko, talking quests with Tsumugi, and the coordination when they teamed up together in battle, the social interaction for the normally socially inept trio was what really hooked Shuichi in. He was simply having fun, hanging out with two of his friends despite them being in a different room down the hallway outside. In downtime, they would just chat - Himiko caught the two up on her magical efforts and her recent date with Tenko, Tsumugi went on and on about her current cosplay projects, and Shuichi (much to the laughter of the two girls) recounted the recent barrage of encounters he’d been having with Kokichi. It just felt so… natural playing and talking at the same time.  
  
So natural, he didn’t even notice time passing. And much more then, say, half an hour.

 

* * *

 

“You’re topped up, Tsumugi!” Shuichi half-yelled into his mic. The three had taken on one of the first group dungeons, much more challenging then the normal questing they’d gone through up until now. They were at the final encounter, the three of them facing up against a giant orc named Elfbane, the boss of the encounter. As Shuichi healed Tsumugi, another smaller orc appeared from behind them, going for Himiko, who was their main damage dealer against Elfsbane.  
  
“G-Guys!” Himiko squealed, launching another Shadowsteal from her staff. “I can’t fight both!” Tsumugi lept into action immediately, drawing the aggression of the smaller Orc so Himiko’s back was safe.  
  
“I got him, finish of Elfsbane!” Shuichi charged in next to Himiko, placing his character’s hand on Himiko’s shoulder.  
  
“Touch of Refreshment!” Energy flowed from his character to Himiko’s powering her up. Along her newfound strength, the Druid and Warlock pumped all of their damage into one last push against Elfsbane, even as his furious attacks pushed them back. Another orc appeared behind them, joining the skirmish against Tsumugi, but she held them back. Finally, when the tide was seemingly close to turning against the three players, Shuichi and Himiko launched a dual attack from their staves, and with a shuddering crash, Elfsbane fell to the ground, defeated. The two additional orcs vanished in a puff of loot and smoke. All three players received notifications detailing the special loot they had received.

**[Boggadooble] received [Cloak of Transistence] and [Twelve Bladed Staff]!**

 

**[Jamasper] received [War-Axe of Desire] and [Drem’s Greatsword]!**

 

**[Shuelfi] received [Tome of Kor] and [Spacial Shoes]!**

 

Despite the fact the three teenagers had literally just been clicking and using a keyboard, all three of them breathed heavily as they completed the encounter, before all three of them broke out in restrained cheering.  
  
“T-That was damn insane…” Shuichi muttered, looking over his loot. His heart was _actually_ racing. That was kind of sad, but he honestly didn’t care.  
  
“Himiko, your damage was amazing!” Tsumugi praised the mage, who just laughed cockily.  
  
“Of course! My magic is unrivalled, even in a game!” The three of them chattered happily for the next few minutes, comparing their loot and talking about how well they’d handled their encounter. It had been their third try fighting Elfsbane, and only now had they figured out the best way to fight the boss. The three characters warped back into town to sell their excess and outdated gear, talking about their next goal for the game, as the three of them stood in the tavern of the town they were in, Jugarsalon.  
  
“Well, with the Unfazed Plans zone all wrapped up, I guess we could head over the the adjacent level 15 zone.” Tsumugi murmured, trying to decide if the stat increase was worthing messing up the look she’d made for her goblin.  
  
“Though, there’s _this zone_ in the other direction, Frozen Outpouring, which features another one of those dungeons!” Himiko suggested.  
  
“Honestly, I’m good with-” Shuichi stopped in the middle of his sentence as his eyes fell upon the clock next to his computer. It was actually two in the morning. They had been playing for five hours without any of them noticing. Informing his friends of this, Tsumugi literally laughed at how absorbed she’d gotten into Hell’s Abandon, and Himiko actually seemed to become sleepy on the spot, even though she was hyped to heck thirty seconds ago.  
  
“So, Shuchi!” Tsumugi addressed her friend as they got ready to log off. “You wanna keep playing tomorrow night?” Shuichi laughed, realising there was no hesitation anymore - just a desire to keep hanging with his friends.  
  
“I dunno if I can do another five hour run, but sure, I’ll be there if you guys are.” Himiko agreed with the other two, yawning loudly.  
  
“...Gonna sleep guys, Tenko and I are going out tomorrow so I gotta wake up eaaaarllyyy. Night night…” The other two sent goodnight to the mage and the message “[Boggadooble] logged out” popped up. Tsumugi also said her goodnites to Shuichi and “[Jamasper] logged off” as well. Just as Shuichi was about to go, too, a sudden message appeared on his screen. 

 **Private Messages**  
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**  
Heyyyy

Shuichi raised his eyebrows at the name of the player sending him the private message. He honestly decided not to think more of it, since it was so late, before more messages came through.  
  
**One Horse Sized Horse** ****  
I’m across the tavern from you, the big horse guy.  
  
Shuichi looked across the tavern his character was in, sighting the character who was messaging him instantly. How could he not? He was playing a Centaur, a class the game specifically noted as being hard to play. Judging by his attire, he was playing a Bard class. Next to him, apparently in his group, was a human character with the character name [Avo Toastie] above his head. Wondering where this was going to go, Shuichi toddled over to the two wondering what the Centaur wanted with him.  
  
**Public Chat**

**Avo Toastie**

Yo

**One Horse Sized Horse**

This is my wingman, Toastie. ‘Saw you and your pals beat that first dungeon, pretty impressive - we barely were able to do it with us two.

 **Shuelfi**  
Yeah, my friends and I struggled a lot, but we got through it in the end.

 **One Horse Sized Horse** **  
** My main man and I were spectating the dungeon run - I gotta say, you did most of the work. Wouldn’t you prefer if you were in a group that were better suited to your talents?  
  
Shuichi frowned. What was this guy going on about? He’d been playing the game barely five hours, he wasn’t even trying to play the game to be good at it. He was here to play with his friends and have a good time, not party up with some random horse-man with a lute and his friend. Shuichi wasn’t going to be rude, but it was past two in the morning, and he didn’t feel like hanging with two dudebros in the middle of the night  
  
**Shuelfi** **  
** Sorry man, it’s late and I gotta get some sleep. Maybe another time, when I’m not with my friends?  
  
**Avo Toastie** **  
** Bugger. We’ll hold you to that, then  
  
**One** **Horse Sized Horse** **  
** I think your skills would be much better suited for the guild I’m planning~ but it’s your decision, so I’ll seek you out another time~  
  
Before Shuichi could even bid them goodbye, both of them vanished on the spot, leaving Shuichi’s character alone.  
“Well, that was really strange.” Shuichi mumbled to himself, finally logging off from Hell’s Abandon and switching off his computer. “They probably meant well, though.” Throwing the thought of the two weird guys from his brain, Shuichi yawned, only now realizing how tired he was. He practically fell into bed, not even bothering to change into his pajamas. He smiled into his pillow, thinking of the great time he’d had with Tsumugi and Himiko that night, and hoping that their adventure together would continue, session by session, for a long time to come.  
“ _Maybe some of the others could join in, sometime…”_ Shuichi thought to himself, as fatigue overcame him instantly, falling into slumber.

 

* * *

 

“Damnit.” The short, violet haired boy said as he logged out. “He’s so much better than those two, why wouldn’t he want to party with us?”

“I dunno, maybe because two guys with stupid names and a lute asked him to hang at 2:30 in the morning?” Rantaro’s voice came out of the headphones around the boy’s ears.  
  
“No, that can’t be it.” Kokichi considered as he spun lazily around in his wheely chair.   
  
“Well, maybe having you there was a little much, but games are meant to be exciting! And what isn’t more exciting then a Centaur with a lute?”  
  
“Maybe he’d been more impressed if you were on your main?”  
  
“Nahh, Level 120s who go into noob towns like that are always thought of as lowlifes.” Kokichi shook his head. “And I may be a lowlife, but Shuichi doesn’t need to know that! We’ll just try something else tomorrow!”  
  
“‘One of my sisters are in town tomorrow, so I won’t be around to wingman you this time. I gotta get to bed, man, night.” Kokichi sighed loudly, as if he was trying to convince Rantaro to change his mind, but paid him no mind.  
  
“Night.” Kokichi mumbled, as Rantaro left the voice chat. Kokichi lazily spun around in his chair to try and get his thoughts straight. The Centaur with the Lute plan to didn’t work, and he knew being OP as nuts wasn’t going to work, so he was going to have to try something else.  
  
“Shuichi Saihara…” Kokichi mumbled to himself. “What do I have to do to make you play more with me?” He opened his chat messages again, opening up a specific students message tab, and began to type, a smile appearing on his face.  



	2. The People Who Care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi invites his closest friends to game; and a new stranger appears!

A week after the three of them had started playing Hell’s Abandon, Shuichi had gotten no less addicted to the MMO. At the very least, he justified to himself that he wasn’t playing every night - just every other night. He had already forgotten his strange encounter with the strange centaur character, and had just become absorbed in the story of the game, even playing alone when Himiko and Tsumugi were busy. However, he always made sure to never outlevel them too far; he treasured playing at nights with the two of them, and he didn’t want to push ahead too far to make any kind of reasonable co-op impossible. Unfortunately, they weren’t going to be on tonight, but he had something else regarding the MMO to look forward to. Glancing down at his phone, Shuichi grinned. He’d been looking forward to tonight ever since _they_ had suggested it.   
  
**Shuichi Saihara** ****  
I’ll be on soon, just gonna get some food.  
  
Yawning, Shuichi got off his bed and left his dorm room, heading down to the dorm lounge to use the microwave. He was tired from his trip into the city with his friends, and all he felt like eating at the moment was instant noodles. Wandering into the lounge, he started making the noodles, humming some vague tune to pass the time.  
  
“Oooooh, Shuuuichii~” He didn’t need to turn around, he just continued to hum as the source of the voice advanced on him. “Whatcha making?” Kokichi grinned at his friend as he stood at the countertop, leaning against it, throwing what looked like a scrunched up ball of paper from hand to hand.   
  
“J-Just some instant noodles…?” Shuichi replied what Kokichi was going to find interesting about these. Kokichi just put a hand over his mouth to hide a fabricated smirk.   
  
“Ohoho, don’t you think that’s pretty unhealthy for dinner?” Kokichi shook his head, as if he was disappointed in the detective. “You should be following my example for eating healthy!”   
  
“What did you have for dinner, then?”   
  
“Oh, just a delicious, healthy salad!” As he beamed that devilish grin, he shot the ball of paper into the rubbish bin - Shuichi noting that the paper was clearly a wrapper for a cheeseburger. His noodles ready, Shuichi grabbed them and turned to head back to his room, Kokichi following unheeded.   
  
“Aren’t you going to eat in the lounge, Shuichi?” He asked, smirking again in a way that made Shuichi mildly concerned.   
  
“N-No, just going to eat in my room, honestly.” Kokichi just smirked to himself again, making Shuichi feeling worried again. He could never read him, and he could never work out why he just happened to be ‘running into’ him again and again. So here the two of them were, wandering through the halls of the academy, Shuichi akwardly remaining silent while Kokcihi hummed some random tune.   
  
“Sooooo, Shuichi?” Kokichi grinned. “Got much planned? Heavy studying? Watching a movie? Sleeping your cares away?” Shucihi was barely okay with telling his closest friends about being mildly addicted to Hell’s Abandon - so he figured he wasn’t going to tell a wild card like Kokichi that.   
  
“Oh, I dunno, might watch a movie or something, yeah.” Shuichi murmured somewhat non-committedly. “Maybe read a book. Haven’t really planned past dinner, y’know.” Kokcihi gave him a long look, sizing him up with a “hmmmm” escaping his lips. Seeming satisfied with his answer, Kokichi shrugged as they reached Shuichi’s door. Opening the door to enter, Shuichi glanced back at Kokichi just peering through the doorway.   
  
“Uh… good night, Kokichi?” Shuichi said, wondering if his friend(?) had anything else to ask him.   
  
“Hmmm…” Kokichi hummed again, that slightly terrifying grin falling over his face again. “Enjoy your movie, or book, or whatever.” And with that grin, Kokichi was gone like the wind, skipping down the hallway towards his own room, leaving Shuichi completely befuddled. There had been a lot of these weird encounters with Kokichi, and he just flat out didn’t understand what was going on with him. Even when he attempted to reach and ask him to hang out, he’d just flash that odd grin and then he’d be gone. Sometimes he wondered if things would be better if he more actively tried to befriend the Supreme Leader among his classmates.   
  
Sometimes, he wondered if it was just too much effort for someone who didn’t want it.   
But either way, Shuichi put that out of his mind for now - he had something much more important to think about. Sure, _he was_ just going to be spending time which, in the eyes of others, could be seen as wasting away playing Hell’s Abandon. But at least, to himself, he knew he wasn’t wasting it - because he was going to be playing with two of his best friends in the world.

  
Shucihi had spent the the day with Maki and Kaito, feeling like it was probably a good idea to actually go outside on one of the few nice days of the week. The two teenagers had been decently busy recently, with Kaito catching up on homework he’d failed to complete and Maki either reluctantly helping him, or spending time with her other friends. So, the three of them had gone around the city, seeing a dumb action movie (which Maki seemed to have _really_ gotten into - which Kaito teased her about to no end) and getting lunch together, the first time the three best friends had hung out in a while. So eventually, the topic had turned to what Shuichi had been doing recently - and that eventually turned to the topic of Hell’s Abandon.   
  
And here they were now. Probably only a few doors down in Kaito’s room, he and Maki were set up on computers to give the MMO a try - Shuichi didn’t even really ask them to when they had been eating lunch - it had simply been his passion and adoration for the game that had made Kaito want to try it out, and make Maki even consider it, as much as she didn’t really _get_ video games. He wouldn’t have forced them to try it either way - Shuichi felt a lot of love for his friends for taking an interest in something that he enjoyed so much.   
  
“All right, we’ve both got this thing installed, what next?” Maki mumbled over the voice chat.   
  
“Ok, if you log on, you should have the option to create a new character - make anything you want, it won’t apparently matter until the very late game, which you probably won’t need to worry about.”   
  
“Right.” Maki replied, clicking away.   
  
“Hey, you never know!” Kaito laughed, obviously entranced with making his character. “We could all end up being like Chiaki or something!” Shuichi chuckled nervously, honestly feeling like he was reaching that point already, anyway.   
  
“I’m sure none of us would get that bad…” Shuichi began to log in and check some of the stuff he’d left going overnight, mostly some items he’d bid on in the auction house, smiling to himself as he heard Maki and Kaito mutter away to each other as they made their characters.   
  
“Why’d you make him so small?”   
  
“Why’d you make your character so big?”   
  
“I _knew_ someone like you would make something like that, dumbass.”   
  
“Characters should be unique, an extension of who you are!”   
  
“Yes, because a large woman totally sounds like _Kaito Momota._ ”   
  
“W-Well-”   
  
Shuichi had to do all he could to restrict his laughter at the couple’s banter. To anyone else, Maki’s and Kaito’s relationship could seem almost… destructive? But the way they bounced their banter off one another, how they acted when they were (or thought, in certain cases where Shuichi had accidentally turned up) alone… Shuichi loved seeing how happy the two of them were together, even if they didn’t really talk about it that often. Shuichi snapped back to reality as Kaito cheered.   
  
“Hey, Shuichi, should I make a-” Kaito started to talk about his character but he was quickly cut off by his friend.   
  
“A-Actually!” Shuichi said, a little too excitedly. “I kind of want to be surprised what you do with your characters, so I’ll wait till I see them in the game…” Even if he wasn’t in the same room as them, Shuichi felt himself grow warm in the face from embaressment. “I-If that’s okay.” Kaito just laughed in that usual way - Shuichi could almost see the grin behind the screen.   
  
“It’s good to see you so excited about something, man. I’ll just get my name in and then we’ll pop in.”  After a few moments of quiet pondering, Kaito hit a few keys and then said joyfully: “We’re done, bro! Let’s kick some ass!”  
  
“This better be good.” Maki’s disgruntled voice came through Shucihi’s headset, immediately dwarfed by Kaito’s loud laughter. Shucihi held back his own laughter, not wanting to enrage Maki and make her log off.   
  
“Don’t be like that, Maki-roll!” The astronaut-in-training told her. “From what Shuichi told us, this game sounds fantastic! Don’t you wanna try that?” Maki just grunted in response.   
  
“I’ll give it a try, that’s all I promised.”   
  
“Okay, if you’re done setting up, just log in and head into the starter town, I’ll be there in a sec.” Maki grunted some noise of affirmation as Kaito blabbered on about being so excited about playing.   
  
“So, you guys liking your characters?” Shuichi asked as he rode his mount, a large bipedal lizard, towards the starter town.   
  
“Oh, you’ll see.” Maki sighed.   
  
And he did. Coming into the main avenue of the starter town, they both stuck out like a sore thumb. What seemed to be Kaito’s character was a female Half-Giant Paladin, seven feet of shining armour and golden hair,wielding a sword of comparable length to [Shuelfi]. Kaito’s monstrous Half-Giant’s name was [Titania].   
  
“You’re honestly the first person of the group to have an actually… normal name.” Shuichi noted dryly.   
  
“Kaito? Serious?” Maki muttered in mock surprise. “I never.”   
  
“Hey! Space is always serious!” Kaito grumbled.   
Just like everyone else, Maki’s character stood out, but in a more fitting way. Tall and thin, Maki’s character took the form of a female Lizardfolk Assassin, dark robes covering violet scales and bright golden eyes. Unsurprisingly, her name wasn’t very creative; [Harumaki] hung above her character’s head. As soon as the couple saw _Shuichi’s_ character, though, Kaito simply roared with laughter and even Maki was suppressing a few laughs.   
  
“What?” Shuchi mumbled, knowing they didn’t mean the laughs, but still feeling tingies of embarrassment.   
  
“I’m sorry bro, I’m sorry, but…” He let out another suppressed laugh.   
  
“It’s just so _you_ , Shuichi. So don’t worry about it.” Maki was also, much more easily, suppressing her laugh. “S-So, what are we actually meant to do?” Shuichi pushed his embarrassment out of his mind as he embraced what he had been waiting for all along.   
“So basically, before you get into the meat of the game, you’ll both have to do a little thirty to forty minute quest to introduce you to your race and all that.” He heard Kaito and Maki audibly groan at this. “Trust me, I did the same thing - it’s a lot better then you think.” Maki groaned again, but eventually she went along with it.   
  
“Well, if we’re off doing our thing, what are you gonna do?” Maki asked, she and Kaito’s character’s heading off to their story zone.   
  
“Oh, just hang around in town, I guess?” Shuichi replied somewhat non-committedly. In truth, there was a gambling mini-game he wanted to try out, but he didn’t want to tell his friends how far he really was in at this point.   
  
“Hm.” Maki made a noise, but let it go.   
  
“All right, let’s go kick some ass!” Kaito yelled into the mic, Shuichi and Maki immediately shushing him.

* * *

 

In the end, their experience was quite similar to Shuichi’s - just a little more varied. Kaito was seemingly blown away with the combat in the game whilst not really being drawn into the story that much. Maki seemed more positive on her questing, just a bit more low-key about it. She spoke highly of the gameplay, and even from her withdrawn comments she seemed pretty drawn into the storytelling.  
  
“...dealing with the plague bearers was honestly pretty interesting.” Maki murmured, following Shuichi out of the starter town, leading Kaito and Maki towards where they would start questing in the next zone. “I kinda get what you meant when you talked about the storytelling, Shuichi.”  
  
“I guess it was _ok._ ” Kaito added, his character bouncing up and down as they travlled.

“But the combat feels really tight! I kinda wish this used that cool ass VR stuff that’s getting popular now.” Shuichi nodded to himself - but honestly, if they were in a virtual world like Hell’s Abandon, he probably forget there was a real world outside of it.   
  
“Well that’s just typical for you, Kaito. All action, no nuance.” Maki grumbled at her partner Kaito immediately spluttering a response. Shuichi just laughed - the constant banter between the two, never going too far, never failed to make him laugh.   
  
And so, that’s how the night progressed for the next hour or so. Kaito and Maki picked up the game pretty quickly despite progressing rather slowly from the early game zone. Kaito could barely be stopped, trying to progress rapidly so he could keep fighting and unlocking new skills, whilst Maki just wanted to listen to the story and hear what was going on. This was not one of the zones Shuichi had explored when he had started - Fields of Harmony, the one they were in, was in the opposite direction to the one he had chosen. The storyline of the zone, featuring an uprising of an army of native goat-people, was honestly pretty gripping; even as Kaito and Maki progressed through the story, Shuichi still accepted all the quests just so he could stay in the loop. "Maybe I should make a new character and try these other zones..." Shucihi wondered to himself. But in the end, he was just having fun seeing his friends bumble through the game - he never got sick of Maki and Kaito ripping on each other's characters, or the moments where they worked together to bring down a more powerful enemy. In all honesty, Shuichi was really just a companion on their journey then anything, saving them from using their health potions by just casting his healing abilities on them. He didn't mind in the least - being in Hell’s Abandon with his two closest friends was all he needed. He really liked playing with the others… but this was different. These were two of the people who dragged him out of a very dark place in his mind; and he wanted to share the things that made him happy with them.   
  
_“Which reminds me”_ Shuichi thought to himself “ _Maybe I’ll see if Kaede wants to play sometime.”_   
  
He was wondering if he should follow the path he had taken when he'd played with Tsumugi and Himiko, and introduce them to a dungeon (the most fun he'd had with the game so far, in fact), when he noticed the two players hovering just at the edge of the game’s draw distance, following them just distantly enough to keep them in tracking distance. Shuichi frowned, but put it at the back of his mind for the next half an hour. It looked like two players just questing as usual - but they were both level 10, grazing in a level 5 zone. Every mob they went at just died from a single hit. It just seemed… pointless? They wouldn’t be receiving any XP, and stay in the trio’s vicinity was obviously suspicious. Maki and Kaito didn’t seem to notice, so Shuichi just went on guiding them in the game. A little while later, Shuichi told the others he was just going on a run to get a snack, since the they were just turning in a quest. It was after running to the kitchen and grabbing some biscuits, he returned to a rather confrontational sight.  
Katio and Maki’s characters stood a little apart from the two characters who were very clearly now following the trio. One was tiny, maybe three feet tall - a pitch black goblin Trickster who was named [Caballo]. Besides him stood a pale Half-Giant Mage that rivalled Kaito’s character in size, the name [Pison Eu] hanging above it’s head. Shuichi quickly read the chat to ascertain what was going on.  
  
**General Chat** **  
**   
**Titania**  
What you dudes want?  
  
**Caballo**  
Heyyy man, just some players looking for a good time :^)  
  
**Harumaki** **  
** That’s what we were doing until we noticed you two goons following us around.  
  
**Pison Eu** **  
** We not follow or goons! We just trying to have fun!   
  
**Caballo** **  
** Exactly, we’re not trying to cause trouble.  
  
As if the timing was perfect, an option popped up on the screen between the two groups. It read **[Caballo and Pison Eu challenge Titania and Harumaki to a stakes-free match!]**. Shuichi frowned. Even if it was a PvP match without stakes, it still seemed odd - Tsumugi had mentioned to him that when she saw streams of the game, practically no one did PvP matches until the end game; no one but people just looking to annoy new players. Odds are, these guys fell into that category.  
“We should probably just move on, PvP matches are just a pain at this level.” Shuichi told his friends. Maki immediately agreed, but Kaito made a odd grumbling noise. Receiving no response, Caballo had gotten real close to Titania and was bouncing up and down, spamming emotes in what was likely a childish attempt to annoy him.   
  
**Caballo** **  
** Come onnnnnn, just one match,,, it won’t take long,,,, don’t be coward,,, lets have fun,,, i got all night,,,  
  
“Kaito, don’t do what I know you’re thinking…” Maki muttered, Shuichi knew _exactly_ what was about to inevitably happen. Poor Maki, Shuichi thought. How she put up with Kaito sometimes, he’d never know.  
  
**[Titania accepts stakes-free match]** **  
** **  
** “Jesus Christ.” Maki swore under her breath, as Pison Eu danced back and forth chanting “Yay, yay yay!“ in the background. “You fall for this when people like Kokichi mess with you, and you fall for this shit when randoms do it. You need to chill.”  
  
“I’m not gonna let some pipsqueak just screw with me. I’m gonna kick his ass.” Kaito declared.  
  
“You’re an idiot.” Maki just hit back. As the game loaded the settings for a PvP fight, Kaito’s cocky boasting wore off as realisation ran over him.  
  
“...So, Shuichi, how do PvP fights work?” Shuichi almost felt like he should just leave Kaito to hs fate, but he _did_ promise to teach the game to his friends, so here he was.  
  
“Don’t leap into trouble if you don’t know how to do things.” Shuichi half-scolded before explaining. “Basically, it’s the same as a normal fight against monsters - except you’re going to be temporally pushed up to Level 10, just like these guys, so you’re on an even ground. Same goes for your stats. **  
  
** “So we get to have new shit for a while? Sweet!” Kaito seemed practically giddy about the whole situation. At the very least, Shuichi was glad we’re having fun. Hopefully he’d still have fun during the fight, since Shuichi could feel that _something_ bad was gonna happen.

**[Caballo and Pison Eu VS Titania and Harumaki Non-Staked PvP]**

**[BEGIN]**

  
**Caballo**   
I’ll go easy on you guys :^)   
  
“Well, that’s never a good sign.” Maki dryly remarked.   
  
“Who gives a shit! Let’s go!” And then Titania charged towards the two opponents, brandishing whatever new abilities Kaito hadn’t had access to yet flying in every direction. Just like Shuichi thought… that bad feeling had merit.   
  
The battle was hard to watch, from Shuichi’s point of view. Even with their stats scaled to balanced level, Cabalo and Pison Eu practically tore apart Maki and Kaito’s characters. Their skills were far beyond anything a level 10 would have; Shuichi himself hadn’t been playing long, but they were using skill combos that a new player wouldn’t ever grasp. In addition, Kaito and Maki attempting to combo skills they had never used before wasn’t giving them any ground - in fact, it just drained their resources too rapidly from the constant stream of abilities.   
Every time Kaito or Maki seemed to gain ground on one of the enemies, the other would appear and slip through their defences. Kaito was slowly worn down by the constant assaults, despite his heavy armour and high HP, Pison’s Eu’s channelled magic keep him down. Maki’s damage was high, but she couldn’t get a bead on Caballo - the few times she tried to focus on Pison Eu, Caballo immediately took advantage of her turned back. They managed to hold out and do a little damage, but within a few minutes… the battle was over.   
  
“Goddamnit!” Kaito shouted, Shuichi hearing his friend banging his fist on the table. “We didn’t stand a damn chance.” Maki just didn’t say anything, but Shuichi could practically _feel_ her rage radiating through his headphones.   
  
“Don’t worry about, Kaito.” Shuichi frowned, trying to do damage control. “You’re new, and these guys probably didn’t realise that you were so new to PvP. It’s probably best if we just move-” He stopped talking, his heart sinking as he read the chat that was now filling the screen. Caballo bounced from side to side on the screen, as if trying to get their attention. “Goddamnit…”   
  
  
**Caballo** ****  
Aw man, it’s like it’s their first time playing.  
  
**Pison Eu**   
Did not mean to hurt so much? Games hits harder then i press button!   
  
**Caballo**   
Don’t worry, I’m sure Helga the Horrible’s brain is still waiting to catch up!

 Shuichi frowned as [Caballo] started to loop a laugh emote. Being happy about winning the PvP match was one thing, but ranting in this way was just being a jerk of a winner.  
  
“Kaito, don’t worry about he’s probably some troll.” Shuichi murmured to his friend, feeling that Kaito was going to feel frustrated about this loss to a fresh account. He just heard Kaito sigh - he could imagine him shaking his head in annoyance.   
  
“It’s fine, man. It’s annoying, but I’ve dealt with people like that before.” Kaito grumbled.   
  
“Tsumugi told me that some players make fresh accounts to beat up low level players with just their game knowledge to back them up.” Shuichi explained, vaguely remembering Tsumugi mentioning it when they did 3v3 arena battles.   
  
“Yeah, that makes sense, I just can’t see the fun in… Wait, Maki?” Shuichi narrowed his eyes in confusion, looking back at the general chat to see what was happening.   
  
**Harumaki** ****  
Seriously, you follow us around on quests begging to fight us, then act all high and mighty like you planned this all? Are you seriously so insecure that you fight people who’ve played only a few hours and know nearly nothing about the damn game?  
  
**Caballo** ****  
Someone’s taking the game too seriously :^)  
  
**Harumaki**   
Maybe I just want to have fun with my friends for once? I shouldn’t have to put up with little shits like you trash talking all around.   
  
**Caballo  
** Mute button exists for a reason, sunshine ;)  
  
**Harumaki**   
Maybe I wanna say my piece first, asshole.  
  
**Pison Eu** **  
** It just game! No need to friends fight each other!  
  
“Yeah, uh, Maki you might want to simmer down a little bit.” Shuichi murmured, not wanting Maki to lose her temper over someone as petty at this [Caballo]. He received nothing but silence, but then got a private message on the voice app.  


**Private Chat**

  
**Kaito Momota** ****  
She’s pissed dude, just let her blow off at this guy, it’s easier.  
  
Shuichi frowned, but Kaito knew her best. He had to trust him to know what the best course of action was. And to be fair, he was pretty pissed off as well. They’d been having a great time till these two came around. What was their deal?   
  
**Harumaki** ****  
And you - you might just be this guys friend, but going along with him and ruining the good time of new players is just as pathetic. I looked in your guys online battle history - you’ve been doing this for a while tonight, right?  
  
**Pison Eu** ****  
Friend just said he wanted to kill time till Shuelfi turned up!  
  
Shuichi frowned again. How did Caballo know who he was? Why was he waiting for him in particular?   
  
**Shuelfi**   
Why the heck were you waiting for me?   
  
**Caballo** ****  
And with that, I think I should pop off for the night. Ciao y’all thanks for being good practice >:^)   
  
**Harumaki** ****  
Hang on, ass, I ain’t done.  
  
**Pison Eu** ****  
I’m so sorry for friend’s behaviour, I don’t know situation!  
  
**Caballo** ****  
Don’t worry buddy, we should just go and let good ‘ol _Harukawa_ chill out for a while.   
  
Caballo stopped moving all together for a few seconds as he realised what he had just written. He deleted the message immediately, before replacing it with a similar one, but not before Shuichi grimaced in pain as the words “What the shit?” came out of Maki’s mouth and into his ears.   
  
**Caballo** ****  
Don’t worry buddy, we should just go and let good ‘ol _Harumaki_ chill out for a while.   
  
And with that, most likely trying to hide his mistake from the now equally confused and angry Maki, Caballo logged off. Pison Eu seemed to dance on the spot for a second, but without another word he was gone as well.   
  
“What the hell was that shit?” Kaito half shouted over the voice chat. “He obviously knows who Maki was!”   
  
“Yeah…” Shuichi frowned, putting his hand over his mouth in contemplation. “How the hell would he know it’s her? Neither of you mentioned that you were playing this tonight?”   
  
“Nah, man. Just wanted to hang with you.” Kaito replied.   
  
“I don’t really talk to anyone else, besides you two and Kaede, so there’s no way someone was going to find out from me.” Maki added, obviously still _very pissed_ about the encoutner with Caballo. Shuichi pushed back from his table a sec, trying to work out who this person was. The encounter with One Horse Sized Horse came to mind. Were they connected? Was Shuichi the common factor in both these really odd encoutners? No one besides Maki, Kaito, Tsumugi and Himiko even knew about Shuichi playing Hell’s Abandon in particular , so there was no way anyone could know it was him.   
  
“It’s weird as nuts, man.” Kaito wondered, stretching. “I had a good time, but that’s soured me for the night. I think I’ll head off.” It was getting close to 11, so it was probably a good idea for them to break for the night. He heard Maki give a soft yawn as well.   
  
“Yeah, I’m off as well.”   
Shuichi smiled to himself, tapping his hands on the table. “Did you guys have a decent time, at least?” That was the most important thing. Even if they hadn’t, he was still very grateful they took the time out to try it out.   
  
“Yeah bro, I had a great time hanging! I wanna play a ton more when I get the chance.” Shuichi couldn’t help but smile at this best friend’s words. “What’d you think, Maki Roll?” Shucihi heard Maki shuffle a bit on her end of the microphone.   
“...Yeah, I had fun. Good night, Shuichi.” And then she was gone from the chat. It wasn’t much, but that meant a lot from Maki, to him at least.   
  
“Night man.” Kaito said. “Let’s hang tomorrow.” Shuchi replied to the affirmative, and his friend logged off as well.   
  
“Maybe I’ll go to bed early as well.” Yawning, Shuichi changed into his pajamas and clambered in his bed. He lay there, for a long time, wondering about Caballo and what his deal was. Was he one of his classmates? Had Tsumugi or HImiko mentioned it to someone? There was so many possibilites, but how would they know that he was playing Hell's Abandon specifically, and that he would be in _that zone_ with Maki and Kaito? Shuichi thought long into the night what the hell had just happened to spoil his night.   
  
And then he realised here _was_ one other person who had seen him playing the game. Not even seen playing it, they had seen a screen - for the briefest moments, his purple haired shadow that had been ‘running into’ Shuichi over and over. Kokichi knew about it - but he had no way of knowing if he was Caballo. Shuichi never had put much faith in his Ultimate Detective title… but maybe it was time to do some experiments to see if he had worked out who Caballo - and potentially One Horse Sized Horse - actually was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! That pretty rounds up the introductory sections of the story - the next few chapters will really delve into more character-based stuff, especially in regards to whatever the hell Ouma is up to. Thanks for reading again, leave me a comment if you enjoyed!


	3. Player vs Player

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi plans a new straetgy, and Shuichi admits a few things to his friends as things heat up.

Shuichi, along with Kaito, Maki, and a new returned from home Kaede retired from dinner to Shuichi’s room, discussing the weird events on Hell’s Abandon last night. They brought Kaede up to speed on what had been going on, and she just found the whole situation hilarious.   
  
“You guys really got trapped into that game, didn’t ya?” Kaede giggled, Shuichi flushing red from embarrassment. “I saw the messages on the group chat, but I didn’t think it was like that!”    
  
“And it was actually a good time, until that imp turned up and ruined a good time.” Maki frowned, crossing her arms.    
  
“Why the hell is Kokichi targeting you, anyway? You said he’s been running into you more, and you’ve run into him at least twice in the game!” Kaito said to Shuichi. Shuichi avoided his gaze, and Kaede snickered a bit.   
  
“O-Oh, I don’t know really.” It might have something to do with something that had been lurking in the back of his mind, but he’d never really told anyone but Kaede about his feelings. Not that hiding it would work if it was true…   
  
“Shuichi, what are you hiding?” Maki said quietly. “Come on. We’re your friends, you can actually talk to us.” Maki cool tone was  _ not _ inspiring confidence in him.   
  
“You’re going to have to mention it to them eventually, especially if you act on them.” Kaede said. Kaito narrowed his eyes, and Shuichi grew even more flustered.   
  
“What is it, man? It can’t be that a huge deal, at least, if it’s you!” Shuichi laughed nervously. They  _ were _ his best friends, how bad could their reaction be?   
  
At least, Shuichi felt like it changed from being a feeling to being the truth when he said it outloud.   
  
“Uh, I think I have a… sort of crush…” Ugh, he felt stupid using that word. Kaito grinned, urging him on, yearning for the gossip. “On Kokichi.”   
  
It was what he expected.  
  
  
_ “WHAT.” _ Shuichi recoiled slightly Maki and Kaito half shouted the word at him. Maki shook her head.   
  
“Well, that makes things more complicated.” Maki sighed.   
  
“I told you they’d react like that.” Shuichi shrugged, glancing over at Kaede, who was very clearly trying not to laugh at him. Again, he couldn’t blame her.   
  
“I mean…” Kaede waved a hand in front of her, as if trying to hide her cheeky grin. “I was the same when you told me for the first time.” Shuichi ran a hand over his face as he remembered how  _ that _ had gone down, turning back to his  _ other _ gawking friends.   
  
“Shuichi... “ Maki started.   
  
“Bro.” Kaito sighed. “We support you man…”   
  
“But why  _ Kokichi!?” _ Maki said incredulously. “Why do you like  _ him _ of all people!?” Shuichi shrugged and sat back down on his bed.  _ He _ didn’t know either. It’s not like one day he decided he’d get a crush on Kokichi. It just sort of happened. Though that was kind of ironic coming from Maki.   
  
“To be fair, I said the same thing when you started dating Kaito.” Kaede giggled, Maki’s frown vanishing as she realised that, too.   
  
“...Oh yeah, you did.” Maki mumbled. Kaito just had a look of indignation and mild hurt.   
  
“This isn’t about me, man.” Kaito grumbled, scratching his hair. “Damnit, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation about  _ Kokichi. _ So, why do you like him, man?” Shuichi just laughed nervously, which made everyone look at him weirdly. As usual. Like he understood it himself - it had just happened one day, probably a month or so ago, as he explained to his friends. Everything had been normal, Kokichi had been playing pranks and messing with him, but then had suddenly run off, saying something about ‘meeting with his loyal goons’. And then he had been gone for nearly two days - odds are he was likely off doing something personal or other, but that was when Shuichi realised how he’d really gotten used to Kokichi’s  _ constant _ presence… and how much he disliked when those daily occurrences were interrupted.   
  
And then he was back, and Shuichi realised exactly why he was relieved.   
“I dunno what to say man. Whatever makes you happy, really.” Kaito gave him a pat on the shoulder. “I don’t like the guy, but if you wanna date a nut, I’m behind ya man!” Kaede giggled a little bit.   
  
“I told you he wasn’t going to be an ass about it.” She said, stretching out in the chair.    
  
“It’s weird, and poor taste, but you’re you, Shuichi.” Maki waved a hand in the air. “Anyway, you clammed up about that when we mentioned  _ why _ Kokichi was doing this. Does it have something to do with you liking him?” Shuichi frowned,  _ really _ hoping it wasn’t true.   
“I was worried he knows I like him, and he’s using that to mess with me psychologically. I mean… that’s him, right? To do that?” He explained to his friends.   
  
All three of his friends agreed.   
  
“Well, in that case, there isn’t really anything we can do.” Maki sighed, getting up. “I don’t mind playing more of that game, but sometime, you’re gonna have to deal with Kokichi if he’s going to keep bugging you.” She averted her gaze, as if embarrassed. “I l-like playing it with you guys, but I don’t want to have to deal with him every time like that.” Shuichi nodded, understanding her concerns.   
  
“Same here, man. You should work this stuff out.” Kaito gave him a pat on his back. I don’t really care about him bothering us in the game, but I don’t want you getting bogged down in every part of your life,  having to deal with that worry.” He winked at Shuichi. “Maybe asking him out will simmer him down on those pranks around here for a while!” The Ultimate Astronaut laughed as Shuichi turned bright red, but he couldn’t help but feel… that that wouldn’t be so bad. In either way.   
  
Before long, Kaito and Maki left, heading out for a movie night. Kaede stretched and got up from her chair a little as she got ready to leave.   
  
“They think it’s stupid that I like him.” Shuichi mumbled, listlessly turning in his chair. “I don’t really get it, either, but they…”   
  
“You’re the stupid one, Shuichi.” Kaede frowned at her best friend. “They don’t like Kokichi much, but they don’t think less of you for liking him like that. They aren’t huge on Miu either, but they didn’t get like that when I told them I was in love with her.” Shuichi shrugged and nodded. Kaede just smiled. “We’re your friends, and we all support you. And if you… did end up with Kokichi, we’d learn to deal with him, because he’d make you happy.” Shuichi finally looked up, and smiled for the first time in a little while.   
  
“Thanks, Kaede. That helps.” He said.   
  
“But they’re right.” Kaede said, more seriously. “Talk to Kokichi. Maybe not today, but sometime soon. We support you, but we don’t want him gate-crashing everything we do together.” Shuichi reluctantly nodded, understanding her point.   
  
“Y-Yeah. I dunno how to even begin to explain all that to him, but I’ll try.” Kaede gave him an encouraging pat on the shoulder, but moving to the door.   
  
“I’m off with Miu tonight, so I’ll catch up with you tomorrow.” Shuichi waved her off and was left alone in his room, spinning in his computer chair. All he could think about was one thing. As weird as the situation is to think of, with him of all people - it’d be nice to be in the same situation as his friends; happy, on a date, with someone they loved. With nothing else to do with his evening, Shuichi decided to log onto Hell’s Abandon to kill some time.   
  


* * *

 

  
After a few hours of questing and crafting, Shuichi returned to the main hub town of the continent, and headed towards the auction house, feeling pretty upbeat about getting a 0.1% rare drop from the dungeon boss. He could make a decent profit on it, if he found the best buyer. He was so happy with himself, that he hadn’t thought at all about the conversation he’d had only a few hours ago.  
  
Though, of course that changed when fate wanted to mess with him again.  
  
_“What the hell.”_ Shuichi had thought to himself. The Centaur Bard that he really couldn’t forget was approaching him across the town, like something out one of those westerns Kaito and Maki loved so much. One Horse Sized Horse grinned at him, and Shuichi wondered what deception Kokichi - if his deductions were correct and One Horse Sized Horse _was_ Kokichi - was going to pull over him. To his surprise, he was wrong about one point.

  
  
**Private Chat** ****_  
_ ****_  
_ **One Horse Sized Horse**   
Heyheyhey Shuichi :^)   
  
Well, that confirmed who he was, Shuichi thought to himself. He wasn’t annoyed, however, that Kokichi was after him two dimensions now.   
  
**Shuelfi**   
What do you want, Kokichi?    
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
Busy just relaxing in your room, doing nothing much? Our good ol’ detective living a double life as a NEET!   
  
Well, Shuichi  _ had _ been pretty obvious when he’d lied to avoid mentioning he was paying Hell’s Abandon. He was going to ignore that last comment, however. But, that just gave him some ammunition.    
  
**Shuelfi**   
You literally have a near max level character. Why are you calling me a NEET when you’re the one who’s probably sunk hundreds of hours into this?   
  
He couldn’t hide the nice feeling of winning an argument spreading to his face, even though no one else was in the room to see it. He still glanced behind him, worried if someone was.   
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
Nah nah, I bought this account from some chinese gold farmers. This is like my third time playing the game.   
  
And, just to mess with Shuichi, Kokichi just performed one of the more complicated, button input-based emotes, just as someone who’d never played the game would obviously know how to do, Shuichi thought sarcastically. He couldn’t help but crack a smile at his obvious lie. He was frustrating to deal with sometimes, but the one on one banter was always lively, at least.   
  
**Shuelfi**   
So what’s this about, this time? Want me to hang out with you and that Avocado guy again?   
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
Nah nah nah, I was feeling sooooo bad about messing with you and the Dynamic Duo last night.   
  
Sure, Shuichi thought to himself. He couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the Dynamic Duo comment. Kaito was nothing if he wasn’t dynamic.    
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
So I wanted to even things out. Your piddly crew of noobs from the first time, versus my experienced squad of loyal goons. How ‘bout it, Shuichi? You got the  _ gamer nads  _ to take us on?

  
Did he really just say gamer nads? More importantly, why was he challenging them to a proper PvP match? He’d at least seen Himiko and Tsumugi’s skills the first time the three had played together, so he knew it’d be a more even fight, but there was still no obvious reason  _ why _ he’d do it. Besides the obvious Kokichi motivations - Generally messing with people, proving superiority, that sort of thing. Odds are it was that. He had to pry further before he said anything either way.   
  
**Shuelfi** ****  
And why would we say yes in the first place? You’ve done little in this game but hound me and harass Kaito and Maki.   
  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
Ah, so it was them! No one would design characters like that except them :^)   
  


Now  _ that _ was a thinly veiled insult. 

  
**One Horse Sized Horse**   
But seriously Shuichi, I promise to leave you alone in this game. I’ll let you and your noob friends roam around and getting nothing accomplished. Really.   
  
That… sounded pretty reasonable. But there was always a but with Kokichi.   
  
**Shuelfi** ****  
Let me guess. There’s a downside if I lose.   
  
He became aware this his heart was thumping a bit harder then normal. He really shouldn’t have read that book Kaede had lent him.   
  
**One Horse Sized Horse** ****  
Yep! You’ll have to join my crew and play with me whenever I ask! So message me soon, Shuichi! :)   
  
And just like that, he logged off altogether, leaving Shuichi’s character standing by himself in the middle of the town. There was really no question in regards to his answer to Kokichi’s challenge, he knew there was going to be a fight. He had to tell the others, and he knew they would want to deal with him after he had mentioned him humiliating Maki and Kaito. But another little part of him wondered what it  _ was  _ like to be in Kokichi’s group. He honestly had no idea what it was like to  _ actually _ hang out and spend time with him - he was such an enigma that no one could really work.   
  
Shuichi  _ did _ at least know that was a little bit of Kokichi’s appeal to him, at least.

 

* * *

 

In his room, Kokichi faced the desktop of his computer, lighting up the whole dark room he sat in. He was confidant in his plan, but he couldn’t help feel that slightest touch of anxiety that it wouldn’t work, and he wouldn’t get another decent shot of getting close to him.   
  
They had to win. If he to teach those three all week, he’d win. ****  
  
“Maybe this’ll work.” Kokichi grumbled, gripping the arm of his chair. “When we win, I’ll have Shuichi all to myself.”   
  


* * *

  
  
“I’m in!” Tsumugi declared, her shrill voice causing the other occupants of the voice chat to shudder slightly in pain. “S-Sorry, I just want to show Kokichi the door to this game!” Himiko lazy voice droned out into the voice chat next. A day had passed since Kokichi had declared his challenge to Shuichi, and just about everyone was raring to go. Since they didn’t know who was on Kokichi’s side, they’d decided to congregate via voice chat to maintain confidentiality.   
  
“Same here, Shuichi.” She yawned. “We’ve been playing so much that we should be able to match Kokichi’s third account and whoever he’s going to bring with him.”   
  
“He said it’d be a three-versus three, right, bro?” Kaito perked up, determined to view the fight to get some second-hand vindication at Kokichi’s defeat.    
  
“About that.” Kaede said, Shuichi glancing back at his bed next to his computer. Kaede had been studying in her best friend’s room before the voice chat had suddenly started. Shuichi already knew the news she was going to tell them, but he let her tell it. “So, Miu isn’t aware that I know about all this… weird, video game rivalry thing going on, so before we slept last night I-”   
  
“TMI, Kaede.” Tsumugi shuddered. Kaede narrowed her eyes at Shuichi's computer.   
  
“You hear spicier things in your hentai, Tsumugi.” The chat briefly exploded in laughter from Himiko, Kaito and Shuichi, and also it seemed Tenko could be heard giggling in the background of Himiko’s microphone. “Anyway.” Kaede continued, “Before we slept, Miu was going on about how she was going to kick some guys asses in an online game next week, and then Shuichi told me about this, so… I think you’re gonna be having at least four people in your weird-ass fight.” Himiko audibly groaned.   
  
“Kokichi knows we’ve only got three people at his level, so he’s just going to try and beat us through superior numbers!” Tsumugi grumbled.   
  
“Well, Kaito and Maki can’t play the game for a week straight to get to that level-” Shuichi started.   
  
“ _ No one should play a game a week straight anyway!”  _ Maki yelled out from the back of Kaito’s microphone, causing more laughter in the voice chat.    
  
“-And we can’t just magic a new person into the fight.” Shuichi continued.  _ This _ seemed to wake up Himiko a bit.   
  
“Oh, I can magic someone up!” Himiko declared, incredulous voices rising in the chat in response. “Oh, I won’t use my powers to do that literally, but I can bring in a ringer to help us out with those four.” As more questions rose in the chat, Himiko moved away from her mic for a sec to call out, and then a much louder voice joined her.   
  
“Yo!” Tenko’s voice called out of the mic, just further confusing everyone now.   
  
“Himiko…” Shuichi frowne at his screen. “You know this isn’t a physical fight, right? We’re fighting in Hell’s Abandon.”   
  
“I’m not stupid, Shuichi.” Himiko grumbled.   
  
“Silence, Shuichi, or I’ll reach through the screen and tear off your hair.” Tenko warned. For some reason, Shuichi felt like she actually could do that.   
  
“Anyway, when ‘ve been playing apart from you and Tsumugi, Tenko got really curious what I was doing all the time in my room, soooo I showed her Hell’s Abandon. And then things got a little out of hand.”   
  
“Let me guess.” Kaito mumbled. “She saw it as a new way to fight men in a new dimension?”    
  
“Yep.” Himiko and Tenko said at the same time. Himiko elaborated. “She played a ton, mostly doing solo PvP to level up, so even when I wasn’t playing with her, or hanging with you guys, she levelled up to my level pretty quickly.” Tsumugi made a thoughtful noise.   
  
“...Tenko, what’s your class?” She asked.   
  
“Monk! So my character is just an extension of who I am!” She replied excitedly.   
  
“I could’ve told you that.” Shuichi added dryly. “But with a monk, using it’s passive healing… that might work.” He lent back in his chair, thinking over the party composition. He had no idea what Kokichi’s squad was going to look like, or what they’re skills were going to be, but with the four of them with some plan… they might actually have a chance.    
  
“You in, Tenko? We could actually pull this off with your help.” Himiko asked her girlfriend. Everyone in the chat yelped as Tenko made a high pitched squeal and assumedly hugged Himiko, which was all they needed to know that they had their fourth member. Shuichi grinned to himself. They had the team. They had decent party structure. Now all they needed was teamwork, and then with some luck, they could take down Kokichi’s team. He knew he had to eventually address how he felt about Kokichi, but for now that didn’t matter. Kokichi had thrown the gauntlet down - now he was going to take the fight to him.   
  
“Maybe…” Shuichi suddenly thought. “Maybe I can use this.” He got pulled out of his thoughts as more cheering rang out across the voice call, this time from Kaito.   
  
“I’m totally coming to watch this!” he yelled. “You too, Maki Roll!” Maki grumbled something, but Shuichi didn’t hear her say  _ no. _   
  
“This is one of the weirdest things I’ve ever witnessed.” Kaede shook her head, laughing a bit. “Nothing wrong with it, but everything about this is just…” She shrugged and relaxed back as the squad planned their strategy out, already all logging to test out some PvP strategies. But despite how hilarious the situation was for her, Kaede couldn’t help but feel happy that her best friend was getting on so well with everyone. They were all friends, of course, but Shuichi was never the one to actively socialize with people, even if it was through this way.  And besides that…   
  
“Hey, Shuichi.” Kaede whispered. Shuichi removed his headphones for a sec to hear what she had to say.   
  
“Yeah, Kaede?”   
  
“Tell me when this ‘showdown’ thing goes down. I wanna see you kick Miu’s ass.” Shuichi’s audio picked up as the others all in the chat began to wonder what Kaede and Shuichi were laughing so hard about.   


**Author's Note:**

> Next time -  
> The 4 versus 4 battle takes place!
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
